The duo of young bigs, Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic, is on the shortlist of combinations hardcore Nuggets observers want to see most on the court together.

Yet, if there is a combination Nuggets coach Michael Malone isn’t breaking his back to re-jigger the lineup to see, it’s the combination of Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic on the court together. Until Monday night, the two had seen all of four minutes of shared court time this season.

But a Bigfoot sighting happened in the Nuggets’ loss to the Cavaliers on Monday. Nurkic and Jokic played. On the court. Together. It lasted seven minutes, and, well, it had its good and bad aspects.

What Happened: In seven minutes, the pair combined to score 11 points on 4-of-9 from the field, 0-of-1 from the 3-point line and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. They grabbed a total of five rebounds, none on the offensive glass, and had two assists. The pair committed three turnovers, three personal fouls and drew two personals. The Nuggets were a -8 when Jokic and Nurkic were on the court.

Why it Struggled: The short answer is because the opponent was superior. Cleveland, at this point, is just a better team.

But getting beyond that…

The biggest concern with that configuration, which puts Jokic at the power forward, is Jokic’s ability to guard that position. Players at the four are quicker than ever before, and many can shoot out to the 3-point line, which at this point presents challenges to Jokic, who isn’t exactly fleet of foot. Even Channing Frye, the aging Cavaliers big man who won’t be confused with Usain Bolt anytime soon, presented problems.

First, on a pick-and-pop 3-pointer with 10 minutes to go in the third. Although, in Jokic’s defense, the Frye and J.R. Smith pick-and-roll that created the look might have been problematic for anyone. Frye’s screen was solid, knocking Emmanuel Mudiay way off the path and forcing Jokic to have to stay longer than he would have liked in covering the lane. Smith flipped a pass back to Frye for a wide open three, which he buried as Jokic sprinted out to contest.

Frye’s next bucket was a bigger red flag. Frye caught the ball at the 3-point line and gave the slightest head fake. Jokic got too aggressive with the closeout and Frye, who never blows by anyone, blew by him for a layup.

Final Analysis: Incomplete. Things that did work well mostly occurred offensively. There was good high-low passing between the two. A Nurkic-to-Jokic dime for a layup with 8:14 left in the third was a good example of that. Both scored on post-ups; Nurkic’s came off of triangle action. But the offense overall was slow with them on the court, and that was a big problem, especially against a quick Cavs unit.

If the Nuggets were to experiment with it again, players at the point, shooting guard and small forward positions all must be quick and athletic. On Monday, the Nuggets had Darrell Arthur, normally a power forward, playing small forward in that lineup. As both Jokic and Nurkic get stronger, quicker and more experienced this will be worth additional looks, but it was a bit rough at The Q.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Who are the ‘hardcore’ fans Dempsey talks about? I’m guessing we’re talking about twitter or facebook types that follow Dempsey. May have their hearts in the right place but may not understand what they’re watching. I don’t know anyone among the broader Nuggets fan base that think the Slav Brothers are an answer to the Splash Brothers. Just saying.

Very interesting analysis, thanks. I can see why Malone would rather swap out the Euro towers for each other, than keep ’em on the court at the same time, at this point.

Doug Moe didn’t like having his ivory towers, Schayes & Rassmussen, on the floor at the same time, until they each learned to rebound more, not less, don’t collect so many fouls, geez, move faster, pass the ball more to each other, after all, you’re like a foot away from each other, and do some pick & rolls –effective, & 3pt. catch & shoots, especially Blair could hit a few. They got much more effective at this, and were useful together, especially on defensive rebounding, but it was never sensational, and their slow moving klutziness made it something that was going to be maybe a 5 or 10 minutes together per game thing at most. About the Ic Bros., ok, apparently they still need time to develop further, so don’t trade Faried just yet. Nor Lauvergne. Might still need either on the court with one of these Euro tower guys, at least until more talent & experience occurs in the lineup. Until then, they can use all the help they can get, and trading good talent for lesser or none wouldn’t be advisable, not unless the plan is to empty the seats completely in order to chase the Sixers for painful futility, hoping for a tricky lottery prize, and in the process giving coach Malone even fewer hair follicles left on that head, & I don’t even want to contemplate the ugly ulcer it could generate, it ain’t pretty.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.